


Haunting Memory

by InfiniteNirvana



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Eye Trauma, Gen, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 14:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10810680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfiniteNirvana/pseuds/InfiniteNirvana
Summary: Niles had no precise memories about the time he lived in the gutter. When he thought back to this time, he would remember the smell of rotten flesh, the metallic taste of blood, a never-ending cold...things like these. Never something concrete. Except for those nights he did remember.





	Haunting Memory

**Author's Note:**

> A re-upload

Niles had no precise memories about the time he lived in the gutter. When he thought back to this time, he would remember the smell of rotten flesh, the metallic taste of blood, a never-ending cold...things like these. Never something concrete. Except for those nights he did remember. Those nights when, suddenly, his brain would show him. Would make him relive that one night he actually feared for his life for the very first time. Or better, the night he learned what it meant to fear for his life. There had been many nights and days where he had feared to die, from thirst or hunger, exhaustion or sometimes just because he did not see any sense in living. But that night, many years ago, he had first been confronted with the actual fear of dying. 

It was a moonless night back then and Niles was about to leave the small, insignificant village he had spent the last few weeks in. The place had precious little to offer and he was exhausted from trying to get his fingers on some food without getting into trouble. Maybe that was the reason he didn't notice. Life had taught him at a young age to never let his guard down, not even in sleep. Looking back, he could not explain how he could've been so careless. Of course, the nights in the village had been quite calm, but it was still foolish of him to let his guard down completely. The moment he realised someone was following was when he felt something hard against his head, a sharp pain that made him stumble. Niles reached for his dagger, but the moment he got hold of it, a kick sent him flying into the dirt. An iron grip took hold of his arms, twisting them onto his back before pulling him up onto his knees. To say Niles was confused or surprised would be an underestimation. He wasn't slow himself, but it had been less than a second before he had been walking peacefully and now he suddenly found himself on the soil, unable to move his hands or to get up on his feet. 

Trying to get a glimpse of his attacker, he looked up but was stopped in his actions by a harsh pull of his hair, forcing him to look at a face he couldn't remember today. He does, however, remember that it was a good-for-nothing who would have never managed to get so close to Niles without help. This was probably the reason Niles was more confused than afraid back then. It would change soon enough. "Not recognising me?", the voice was sweet and so was the smile, but Niles saw something, a flicker in those gray eyes that made him shudder. Niles tried to move, to wiggle out of the grip on his arms, but to no avail. The grip only tightened, and the man before him chuckled, obviously pleased with the situation. "Speechless, are we? Not like you...", metal came into Niles' field of vision. A dagger. He was right, but somehow Niles felt like words wouldn't help him, so he bit his tongue. The blade came closer to his face, dangerously close to his right eye, "Let me help you find your voice...". Niles felt the cold metal, just under his right eye. Slowly, it cut through his copper skin, drawing crimson blood, just enough to paint the tip of the blade a dark red. 

Niles flinched, not because of the pain, he barely felt anything, it was the fact that they were so close, touching him, and he felt so helpless, so vulnerable. It was a feeling he hated more than anything. The grip in his hair tightened, holding Niles still and the man before him mumbled: "Now, that was barely a scratch..." He was enjoying himself so much, Niles had the urge to peel the smile off that face, but he couldn't free his hands, no matter how hard he tried. The tip of the blade was making its way up, Niles could feel the cold metal getting closer, far too close to his eye and he desperately tried to get away with his head, but the only thing he got was an amused chuckle: "I might accidently kill you like that...we wouldn't want that, now, would we?", he was mocking Niles, challenging him. It was obvious that he would be oh so glad to "accidently" kill him.

"Open that nice blue eye of yours, would you?", Niles could feel the sharp blade pressing against his eyelid and that was when he actually realised. There was no way he was getting out of this situation, nobody would come to his help and every time he tried to move he was hold down with such force he couldn't feel his hands anymore. Niles broke into a cold sweat, racing thoughts trying to figure out something, anything to get out of this. "No need to be so tense, really...", tauntingly slow he pressed the blade into Niles' eyelid, cutting through skin and Niles tried to back away. A strong tug at Niles hair sent him forwards, the blade breaking through his eyeball. This time, Niles screamed. It was so loud, Niles didn't recognise his own voice. The white hot pain in his eye was something new. He had thought he knew what it meant to be in pain, physical and psychological but now every single cell in his body was screaming because the blade was moving, twisting and turning and Niles could feel the hot blood on his cheek. 

Niles just wanted it to stop, every movement, even the smallest twist, sending a new rush of hot pain through his whole body. He didn't know when he started trembling, crying, salty tears mingling with deep red blood. "That's much better now...", he sounded so excited but Niles did not hear the words, blood rushing in his ears, making him deaf to everything but his own screaming. But the worst was yet to come. Slowly, the blade was pulled out, taking his eye with it. And god, it hurt. This time he didn't cry. He couldn't, shock numbing the pain, only making it worse. Worse, because Niles knew it hurt, knew he should probably be screaming his soul out, but he didn't. There was a distinct, metallic taste in his mouth. Niles wondered for a moment, if the blood came from his eye or if he had bitten his tongue at some point, but a ripping sound made his mind go blank again. 

He didn't hear what the voice was telling him and he had no time to think about it because the next thing he felt was a hard kick against his head. The grip around his hands disappeared and his whole body was flung into the dirt, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Niles' hand moved to his right eye, only to be met with a bloody mess. Faintly, he could hear laughter through the blood rushing in his ears and his own ragged breaths. He tried to get up, to run away but something hit his leg, making a terrible, tracking sound. A new, stabbing pain hit him and his mouth opened to scream, to groan but he no sound left him. He heard a faint: "You're no fun, now, are you..." , before a kick to his abdomen made him curl up, the action only causing a new rush of pain in his leg. They left him like this and Niles had no memories of the rest of the night. But somehow, he survived.


End file.
